Cochrane

This year's wildfire season in Canada is shaping up to be the second-worst on record and federal officials are warning of a dangerous summer in parts of British Columbia.

Officials with several government departments held a technical briefing Thursday in Ottawa with an update on the state of multiple wildfires and its forecast for the coming months.

What has been over a decade in the making took a major step forward this week with the approval of infrastructure borrowing to open the door to the future Horse Creek Sports Park and high school site.

Council approved borrowing $10.83 million toward the $11.43-million project that will provide the necessary infrastructure, design, and planning to support both desperately needed facilities in Cochrane. The town had unsuccessfully applied for a provincial grant to cover $5.7 million of the cost.

The Alberta government says it is considering letting oil companies inject wastewater deep underground as a way to manage the toxic tailings that are accumulating in the oil sands.

The idea is one of five being put forward by a government-appointed committee tasked with studying potential tailings management options.

A new report from the committee says injecting mine water underground is a practical solution but considering over 1.4 trillion litres of tailings exist as of 2023 it can't be the only option.

A former health-care agency leader is asking a judge to deliver a quick decision on her wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the Alberta government, but the province says it will push back.

Athana Mentzelopoulos, the former CEO of Alberta Health Services, or AHS, has applied for a summary judgment on the legality of her January firing, which would avoid sending the case to trial.

Cochrane’s pool community was sinking shots and raising funds last weekend, bringing in $685 — and possibly more — to help three-year-old Brielle Thompson take her first steps with robotic legs.

The fundraiser, hosted by the Venue Bar and Grill, drew 24 players, with more left on the waiting list.

Bill Gibbons, a longtime Cochrane resident and professional billiards instructor, said once word spread, the tournament filled quickly.

Physiological Leaf Spot is suspected in a number of winter wheat fields in Southern Alberta.

Physiological leaf spot (PLS) appears as round or oval lesions that may be yellow or bleached white to gray in color. Lesions may also have a dark center with a narrow chlorotic (yellow) halos and tend to be more numerous toward the tip of the leaf blade. PLS lesions are often found in the upper canopy, and missing or rare on lower leaves.

Three Factors Favoring Physiological Leaf Spot (PLS):

Elise Neven-Pugh is inviting people to learn how to create their own silver lining at a mindset workshop being held June 16 at St. Andrew’s United Church.

The workshop focuses on connecting with a higher power, the importance of gratitude, and how to process emotions and challenges in a constructive way to find serenity.

“Positivity doesn’t have to be, ‘Oh, this is great!’ You can have difficult emotions, but there’s a positive way to process them. You can utilize a difficult situation to process emotions in a healthy way,” she explained.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and three of her ministers got an earful on Wednesday night from southern Alberta locals at a rowdy, hours-long town hall to discuss the province's coal policy.

About 500 people, dressed in cowboy hats, belt buckles, and jeans, packed a community hall in Fort Macleod, Alta., for an event marked by heckling, competing applause and placards.

The Canadian citizen believed to be on an Air India flight that crashed shortly after takeoff is a dentist from Mississauga, Ont., her family has confirmed.

The husband of Nirali Sureshkumar Patel said she was on board the London-bound flight that crashed Thursday, killing at least 240 people.

Patel's dental clinic referred The Canadian Press to the husband, who said that he was in the process of booking travel to India for himself and the couple's one-year-old child.

Almost 13 years after her daughter disappeared, a Calgary mother is still pleading for answers and hoping someone will come forward with new information.

Sara Georgina Coates was last seen on August 1, 2012, during a walk in Calgary’s Stanley Park with her mother, Dubhe Coates. At the time, Sara was 31 years old and living in her van with her dog and two cats. She had been travelling frequently, and her mother says their last conversation was about helping her settle down.